Patent US20040176845A1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US4328561A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Alpha content match prescan method for automatic spelling error correction

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1979-12-28
•
Granted: 1982-05-04
•
Expires: 1999-12-28
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A system for reducing the computation required to match a misspelled word against various candidates from a dictionary to find one or more words that represent the best match to the misspelled word. The major facility offered is the ability to computationally discern the degree of apparent match that exists between words that do not perfectly match a given target word without requiring the computationally tedious procedure of character by character positional matching which necessitates shifting and realignment to accommodate for differences between the candidate and target words due to character differences or added and dropped syllables. The system includes a method for storing and retrieving words from the dictionary based on their likelihood of being the correct version of a misspelled word and then reviewing those words further using the Prescan Alpha Content Match to reduce the number of candidates that must then be examined in a high resolution positional match to find the candidate(s) which matches the mis-spelled word with the greatest character affinity. The Prescan Alpha Content Match reduces the number of candidates in contention so as to make a high resolution match computationally feasible on a real-time basis.

Inventors

  • 👤 Danny B. Convis
  • 👤 David Glickman
  • 👤 Walter S. Rosenbaum

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-23 16:19
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/901; G06F16/9017; G06F16/903; G06F16/90335; G06F16/90344; G06F40/00; G06F40/20; G06F40/232

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim 154 words
In a process for automatically detecting and correcting misspelled text words, a method for improving the selection from a dictionary memory of the set of correctly spelled target words most nearly equal to the input word without recourse to a character by character positional match comprising the steps of: (a) defining a set of counters for each text character; (b) incrementing said counters to accumulate a count of the respective characters in the input word; (c) decrementing said counters for each character in a target word; (d) calculating an absolute value for the remainders in the set of counters; (e) calculating a threshold value using the combination of the number of characters in the input word and the target word; (f) calculating a match value for the target word using the common characters between the input word and the target word; and (g) selecting each target word whose match value exceeds the calculated threshold.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 154 words
In a process for automatically detecting and correcting misspelled text words, a method for improving the selection from a dictionary memory of the set of correctly spelled target words most nearly equal to the input word without recourse to a character by character positional match comprising the steps of: (a) defining a set of counters for each text character; (b) incrementing said counters to accumulate a count of the respective characters in the input word; (c) decrementing said counters for each character in a target word; (d) calculating an absolute value for the remainders in the set of counters; (e) calculating a threshold value using the combination of the number of characters in the input word and the target word; (f) calculating a match value for the target word using the common characters between the input word and the target word; and (g) selecting each target word whose match value exceeds the calculated threshold.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 170 words
In a system for automatically detecting and correcting misspelled text words, an improvement for decreasing the size of the set of target text words selected from a dictionary of text words that approximate the correct spelling of the input word without recourse to a positional character by character comparison comprising: a plurality of counters equal to the set of possible text characters; means for incrementing said counters to accumulate a count of respective characters within the input word; means for decrementing said plurality of counters for each character in a target text word; means for calculating the absolute value of the remainder in said plurality of counters; means for calculating a threshold value using the combination of the number of characters in the input word and the target text word; means for calculating a match value for the target text word using the common characters between the input word and the target text word; and means for selecting each target text word whose match value exceeds the calculated threshold value.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 170 words
In a system for automatically detecting and correcting misspelled text words, an improvement for decreasing the size of the set of target text words selected from a dictionary of text words that approximate the correct spelling of the input word without recourse to a positional character by character comparison comprising: a plurality of counters equal to the set of possible text characters; means for incrementing said counters to accumulate a count of respective characters within the input word; means for decrementing said plurality of counters for each character in a target text word; means for calculating the absolute value of the remainder in said plurality of counters; means for calculating a threshold value using the combination of the number of characters in the input word and the target text word; means for calculating a match value for the target text word using the common characters between the input word and the target text word; and means for selecting each target text word whose match value exceeds the calculated threshold value.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4010445A Cited
US3969698A Cited
US3995254A Cited
US4136395A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1985-05-03 1985-11-02 1986-05-04 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1989-05-03 1989-11-02 1990-05-04 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1993-05-03 1993-11-02 1994-05-04 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag